It's Murray v Djokovic

Jake Niall

ANDY Murray, no longer bearing the grand slam gorilla on his back, has also laid the Federer bogey to rest and consequently will play his contemporary, the game’s new benchmark Novak Djokovic, in a next generation Australian Open final.

Murray overcame Federer, whom he had beaten 10 times in the ‘‘minors’’ and in the Olympics, but not in their three previous ‘‘major’’ meetings, which were all grand slam finals. He also conquered his own stutters, such as in a second-set tiebreak and late in the fourth set, to win 6-4, 6-7, 6-3, 6-7, 6-2 and reach his third consecutive grand slam final.

In doing so, he arguably elevated himself to the game’s top two, and men’s tennis perhaps finally turned the page from Federer and Rafael Nadal to Murray v Djokovic. This will be the second meeting in a major final between the upstart champions, Djokovic winning the Australian Open two years ago before Murray took the US Open final last year.

In what shapes as a career-confirming, rather than defining semi-final, Murray did what he had been unable to achieve in his previous encounter with Federer in last year’s Wimbledon final; he steadied when challenged on two or three occasions, stopped Federer’s run and put the older man to the sword in the decisive fifth set.

Despite his triumph over his former nemesis and the palpable sense that his hour has come around, Murray will enter Sunday’s final as the slight underdog against Djokovic, who enjoyed a majestic straight-sets stroll to the final on Thursday evening against his self-confessed inferior, David Ferrer.

While Murray’s match was by some distance the more taxing semi-final, he was blessed to play on a cool and overcast Melbourne evening, with a slightly chilly wind, that ought not have depleted him. One can only hope that Murray’s fitness is such that Sunday’s final will not be a Darwinian survival of the least exhausted.

Murray’s four grand slam meetings with Federer are a precise measure of the Scot’s incremental journey from a clear-cut fourth banana on the tour to his apparent position as Djokovic’s principal rival. He was spanked in the 2008 US Open and the 2010

Australian Open finals, then squandered Wimbledon last year. But Murray 2.0 – the seasoned, 25-year-old version – is made of sterner stuff and did not capitulate as he once did when facing the legend.

The pattern was one of Murray getting ahead – he owned nearly every statistic throughout the match – but of Federer desperately clinging, like Muhammad Ali on the ropes against a younger George Foreman, and then unleashing swift counter-attacks – most notably in the two tiebreaks that the Swiss won.

Federer would edge back, Murray would surge again.

Finally, the decisive moment came when Murray – who had blown the fourth set, and seen his share of nerves – broke Federer in the fifth set for a 2-0 lead. Murray steeled himself, taking the next two service games to love. This time, he would not stumble. Houdini Roger could not break him, or the handcuffs. Murray broke him to finish the match.

Winning the US Open–- his first major – and slaying Federer in the Olympic final appears to have imbued Murray with the belief that he so obviously lacked in his early 20s. ‘‘Obviously that all helps,’’ said Murray of his recent breakthroughs. ‘‘Having never beaten Roger in a big match until the Olympics.’’

Murray three times surrendered momentum – in the second-set tiebreak, when down a break in the fourth set, and then when he was broken serving for the match at 5-4 in the fourth set. Impressively, he immediately responded in a forthright and pugnacious manner. Federer was always clinging on – relying on winning a small number of key points, when the pattern of the match seemed irrevocably against him.

You can pick all manner of statistics to tell the tale of the match. Murray owned most of them. He made fewer errors, hit many more winners. But the starkest difference was in serving. Murray produced 21 aces to Federer’s 5, giving himself those critical ‘‘free points’’ that give you respite in a tight match. On second serves, the gap was similar – Murray won almost two-thirds, Federer just 44 per cent.

Murray was less successful in challenging line calls and winning the tiebreaks.

Murray took the opening set 6-4 largely on the back of outstanding serving and a more powerful and aggressive approach than Federer, who was in the unusual position of seeing an opponent play the more attacking brand.

Murray was untroubled on serve to this point, a trend that continued in the second set, but the match turned, unexpectedly, in the second-set tiebreak, when Murray’s forehand faltered – he made two completely self-inflicted errors – that gave Federer the small crevice he needed to prise himself back into the match.

Federer kept coming, Murray kept responding. ‘‘I just stuck in,’’ he said. He had the aces last night, and he will need more for the Djoker.

‘‘I’m ready for the pain,’’ he said of the final. ‘‘I hope it’s a painful match, that will mean it will be a good one.’’